page_title: Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Budd Company photo of the Pioneer Zephyr. This is number 9900, which is the Pioneer Zephyr.
context_page_description: The Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars were built by the Budd Company in the United States between 1931 and 1933 using French firm Michelin's "Micheline" rail car design. Michelin built its first rail car in 1929, and by 1932 had built a fleet of nine cars that all featured innovative and distinctive pneumatic tires. In September 1931, an agreement signed between the two companies allowed Budd to use the new rubber rail tires on its shot-welded, stainless-steel carbodies, and at the same time allowed Michelin to expand into the American market.
  After building two demonstrators in what would become its signature semi-streamlined, fluted stainless-steel style, the Budd Company built four production rubber-tired rail cars for American railroads: one for the Reading Company, two for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Silver Slipper for the Texas and Pacific Railway. All were plagued by problems, chief among them their tendency to derail. By 1935, the Silver Slipper had been scrapped, and the Pennsylvania's two cars, the longest surviving of the Budd–Michelin collaborations, met the same fate in 1948.
context_section_description: According to John H. White, the Silver Slipper was a "costly failure" that was "extremely embarrassing" to the Budd Company and ultimately forced the company to abandon its ambitious rubber-tired rail car program altogether. However, Budd did not give up on building lightweight, stainless-steel trains: its very next project was the highly successful Pioneer Zephyr.
  Rubber-tired rail cars achieved greater success in France, as Michelin built 30 for the Eastern Railway of France in 1937. Furthermore, similar rubber-tired subway cars have been adopted in Canada and Mexico as well as on numerous systems in Europe.
  Brian Solomon notes that the Silver Slipper is "sometimes cited as the first true streamlined passenger train", although "it remained relatively obscure and never received the national media attention enjoyed by later streamlined trains". Karl Zimmermann concurs, observing that while "the Zephyr and Union Pacific's M-10000 typically vie for the title of 'first streamliner'", the Silver Slipper is deserving of consideration for the honor.
caption: The Pioneer Zephyr in 1935
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